Northern Premier Cricket League
The Northern Premier Cricket League is a cricket league in the North West of England and was designated as an ECB Premier League in 2000.[1] Prior to that date it was known as the Northern Cricket League.
Because the Northern Premier Cricket League had no formal feeder league and no automatic relegation and promotion, the ECB suggested on several occasions that its ECB Premier League status might be withdrawn. As from 2017, the Palace Shield became the Northern Premier League's feeder league and promotion and relegation between the two leagues took place for the first time at the end of the 2017 season.
History[]
The Northern Cricket League was founded on 10 November 1951,[2] in controversial circumstances.
Several of the clubs in the west of the area covered by the Ribblesdale League had been unhappy for some time about the format of that League. The League had a membership of 18 clubs which meant that only 5 opponents in the League were played against twice per season whilst the remainder were played against once. This group of clubs met secretly on 7 October 1951 and produced a handwritten document which stated:
The following Ribblesdale League clubs:- Blackpool, Chorley, Darwen, Fleetwood, Lancaster, Leyland, Morecambe, St Annes being duly authorised by their respective Committees are resolved from this meeting to request the Ribblesdale League to form a West Section, comprising the above named clubs together with Leyland Motors, Furness and Kendal. Failing agreement on the part of the Ribblesdale League the above eight clubs pledge themselves to resign forthwith from the Ribblesdale League and to create a new league, which would include an invitation to Leyland Motors, Furness, Kendal and Preston.[3]
At the AGM of the Ribblesdale League, held in Whalley on 10 November 1951, the motion was proposed to form West and East sections with the West section comprising Blackpool, Chorley, Darwen, Fleetwood, Lancaster, Leyland, Morecambe, and St Annes, plus two new clubs Furness and Kendal (both from the North Lancashire Cricket League) along with Leyland Motors if they wished to play in the West section.
After discussion the vote was 9–9 and was defeated on the casting vote of the President who had earlier expressed distaste at the way the western clubs had acted.[4]
The eight clubs duly resigned from the Ribblesdale League, as did Leyland Motors, and representatives of these clubs along with those of Furness and Kendal then met at the Swan Hotel in Whalley where the Northern Cricket League was formed. Preston Cricket Club were invited to join the new league as the twelfth team. The invitation was accepted but they remained in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition for one further year before participating in the Northern Cricket League's second season in 1953.[5]
Furness left the league after the 1958 season to be replaced by Netherfield, but there were to be no further changes to the membership until Barrow joined the league in 2004. More recent changes in the membership can be seen below. Leyland merged with lower level club BTR in 2000 and adopted the name Leyland and Farington, while Leyland Motors were known as Leyland DAF between 1991 and 2000. Founder members Darwen left the league after the 2016 season. In 2017 promotion and relegation was agreed between the Northern League and Palace Shield and at the end of the season Garstang and Fulwood & Broughton replaced Lancaster and Kendal.
Winners[]
-
Year Champions 1952 1953 1954 Blackpool 1955 Blackpool 1956 1957 Lancaster 1958 1959 1960 Blackpool 1961 1962 Blackpool 1963 Blackpool 1964 Blackpool 1965 Blackpool 1966 Darwen 1967 Blackpool and [a] 1968 Morecambe 1969 Blackpool 1970 1971 Chorley -
Year Champions 1972 1973 1974 Blackpool 1975 1976 Lancaster 1977 Lancaster 1978 Lancaster 1979 Lancaster 1980 Chorley 1981 1982 Blackpool 1983 1984 Blackpool 1985 1986 Lancaster 1987 Darwen 1988 Blackpool 1989 Blackpool 1990 Blackpool 1991 -
Year Champions 1992 Morecambe 1993 1994 1995 Morecambe 1996 1997 Netherfield 1998 Netherfield 1999 Darwen 2000 Netherfield 2001 Netherfield 2002 Darwen 2003 Darwen 2004 2005 2006 Morecambe 2007 2008 Netherfield 2009 2010 2011 -
Year Champions 2012 2013 2014 Blackpool 2015 Morecambe 2016 2017 Netherfield 2018 Blackpool 2019 2020 League suspended
- ^ Joint champions.
-
Wins Club 17 Blackpool[a] 7 Leyland St Annes 6 Lancaster Netherfield 5 Darwen Fleetwood Morecambe 4 Kendal
- ^ Including one shared championship with Preston (1967).
source[6]
National Club Cricket Championship honours[]
| Year | Club |
|---|---|
| 1996 | Chorley Cricket Club – runners-up |
| 1995 | Chorley Cricket Club – winners |
| 1994 | Chorley Cricket Club – winners |
| 1992 | – runners-up |
| 1990 | Blackpool Cricket Club – winners |
| 1975 | Blackpool Cricket Club – runners-up |
Performance by season from 2000[]
| Key | |
|---|---|
| Gold | Champions |
| Blue | Left League |
| Red | Relegated |
| 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrow | 11 | 8 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 12 | ||||
| Blackpool | 5 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Carnforth 1 | 9 | 12 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Chorley | 3 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 9 | 13 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 |
| Darwen 2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 11 | |||
| Fleetwood | 7 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 4 |
| Fulwood & Broughton | 10 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Garstang | 6 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Kendal | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 8 | 11 | 10 | |
| Lancashire Colts 3 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 12 | 9 | |||||||||||||||
| Lancaster | 9 | 12 | 11 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 13 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 14 | 10 | 13 | 12 | ||
| Leyland 4 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||||||
| Leyland & Farington 4 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 14 | |||||||||||||
| Leyland Motors 4 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 | |||||||||||||
| Longridge | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Morecambe | 4 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 9 | 11 | |
| Netherfield | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Penrith | 11 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 11 | ||||||||||||||
| Preston | 12 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 13 | 13 | 6 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 12 | |
| St Annes | 6 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| [8] | [9] | [10] | [11] | [12] | [13] | [14] | [15] | [16] | [17] | [18] | [19] | [20] | [21] | [22] | [23] | [24] | [25] | [26] | ||
- ^1 — Carnforth left the league after the 2012 season to join the Westmorland Cricket League
- ^2 — Darwen left the league after the 2016 season to join the Lancashire League
- ^3 — Lancashire Colts withdrew from league cricket after the 2014 season
- ^4 — Leyland & Farington and Leyland Motors (Leyland DAF in 2000) merged under the name Leyland after the 2006 season
References[]
- ^ List of ECB Premier Leagues Archived 15 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Northern League history
- ^ Northern League history
- ^ Ribblesdale League history
- ^ Northern League history
- ^ "Northern Premier Cricket League archive". www.northerncricketleague.org. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
- ^ ECB National Club Championship roll of honour
- ^ "2000 League Table".
- ^ "2001 League Table".
- ^ "2002 League Table".
- ^ "Division One - 2003".
- ^ "Division One - 2004".
- ^ "Division One - 2005".
- ^ "Division One - 2006".
- ^ "Division One - 2007".
- ^ "Division One - 2008".
- ^ "Division One - 2009".
- ^ "Division One - 2010".
- ^ "Division One - 2011".
- ^ "Division One - 2012".
- ^ "Division One - 2013".
- ^ "Division One - 2014".
- ^ "Division One - 2015".
- ^ "Division One - 2016".
- ^ "Division One - 2017".
- ^ "Division One - 2018".
External links[]
- English domestic cricket competitions
- Cricket in Lancashire
- ECB Premier Leagues